On an isolated South Pacific island, the unexpected arrival of Sadie Thompson (Rita Hayworth) causes an uproar among the local men at the US Marine Corps base, as well as with visiting philanthropist and religious zealot Alfred Davidson (Jose Ferrer). Sadie quickly strikes up a relationship with Marine Sgt. O'Hara (Aldo Ray), but the increasingly-offended Davidson will stop at nothing to see Miss Thompson and her wicked ways escorted off of the island.

Previously filmed in 1928 with Gloria Swanson and in 1932 with Joan Crawford, this version is heavily censored due to the production code, although it still manages to be mildly racy for the time. I really wasn't liking Rita Hayworth in this, but gradually I began to accept her take on the Thompson character. She's played as not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, a good-time girl in over her head and barely able to take care of herself. She gets to sing several songs, only she's dubbed, and the syncing is terrible.

Aldo Ray is his usual big lug/gorilla, while Ferrer gets to be self-righteous and bombastic. Charles Bronson gets a little more to do than usual at this stage of his career, playing one of the other Marines, but it's still not much, and he's still billed as Buchinsky (but at least he even got a credit this time). This was shot in 3-D, and played very briefly that way, but it flopped, so a flat version was widely released. The movie received an Oscar nomination for Best Song ("Blue Pacific Blues")

Having read some of the comments about this film I must disagree with much of the criticism made against this film. I have seen the 1932 Joan Crawford film "Rain", and while I agree that it is more successful in creating the mood and tone which is required for the story I consider this film version to have its own virtues. Rita Hayworth is good as Sadie (although unlike Joan Crawford she presents herself most of the time a a happy go lucky sort whereas with Crawford it is always apparent that she has a "bad" past)and Jose Ferrer is solid as Mr. Davidson. The location and Photography also add a great deal to the telling of this simple yet powerful story.